As reported yesterday in the emailed Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo, enhanced unemployment benefits provided by the Biden administration will last at least well into August despite attempts by Larry Hogan to burnish his credentials as a standard GOP oppresser of working families by unilaterally discontinuing their payment.

As reported this morning in Maryland Matters, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill issued a ruling before 10am that will maintain Maryland’s participation in enhanced federal unemployment benefits past the end of his own temporary injunction. More below.

What’s on this week? The wearying but exciting awareness that the 2022 primary is less than a year away and progressive candidates are converging on that opportunity. We will support them. The New Era project is under way and the critical needs of our communities are on the line -- including health care and the welfare of kids, in the classroom and out. Check it all out in this week’s memo.

As Frederick Douglass pointed out going on two centuries ago, the “high freedoms” celebrated on the Fourth were and are much discounted by the uneven distribution of freedoms among ALL of our people. Proceeding from the comforts of a partially renormalized holiday, we have many rocks to push uphill, just a little more every day, from Statehood for DC to a federal standard for fair elections that will pre-empt right-wing state repression to getting big corporate money out of our politics. Just a few checkmarks on a long list for real democracy. We can do it. Get started every week in the Memo.

As Pride Month comes to an end, we want to acknowledge that the fight for LGBTQ freedoms and visibility goes on. As many brands and corporations are taking down their rainbow flags after collecting their profits from colourful capitalism, we are proud to say that ours will be here for a while. We have been and will always be committed to Queer and Trans liberation. If you’d like to join us in this commitment, please contribute to our New Era PAC to support our efforts of electing LGBTQ candidates into office across the state. 

Also, we are officially one year away from the June 28, 2022 Primary!!! This and much more in the Memo.

Thank you for being part of this movement. 

A former progressive member of the Maryland General Assembly asks: Why doesn’t more progressive legislation get passed in the General Assembly? Year after year, there are overwhelming Democratic majorities in the House of Delegates and the state Senate, but critical legislation does not get passed by the General Assembly.

We're passing the post on the 50th Anniversary of the start of the War on Drugs. After enduring 50 years of the War on Drugs and witnessing its devastating effects on our communities, we feel it is important to change this policy now and pursue a public health and harm reduction approach. Join us to make change in this crucial area.

We are sending this on a Tuesday since the Progressive Maryland offices were closed yesterday in recognition of Juneteenth, a day celebrating the end of slavery that also happens to be a day in the midst of Pride Month. Following the Congressional vote to make June 19th a federal holiday, the PM Justice Task Force issued this Statement on Juneteenth 2021 that we encourage you to read.

There is much going on this week as we continue the fight for Medicare For All, Police Reform, and The THRIVE Act. You will find PM staff and leaders at the #WeCantWait Rally & March in DC this Thursday as we advocate for climate, care, jobs and justice. This and much more in the Memo.

The establishment of Juneteenth as a national holiday has energized civic consciousness in Maryland and throughout the US -- more truth spoken about the past. The future? In Maryland, one of the nation's most affluent states? New research finds the general well-being of children here has fallen from 21st among the states to 24th, with 157,000 children living in households with income below the poverty line. And that was before the pandemic. Access to the full report is included in the article from Maryland Matters.

More than 150 years after abolishing chattel slavery in the Confederate States, we join the United States of America as it celebrates what has always been an important tradition for Black Americans. 

As we celebrate, we understand that being 150 years removed from a 400 year institution of depravity means that the fight for the real liberation of Black Americans is not over -- especially here in Maryland, where slavery did not end until November 1, 1864 and forced apprenticeships and property requirements for voting kept those formerly enslaved in a posture of subordination.

The Progressive Maryland Justice Task Force is appalled and disgusted to witness the violence and excessive use of force displayed in the viral videos that ended with the arrests of five young men in Ocean City on June 6th and June 12th, 2021.

In two now-viral videos, a young man with his hands up is tased and hog-tied; another young man, already handcuffed, is tased, held down by almost a dozen officers, and kneed in his torso at least five times, all in the act of enforcing compliance.

The JTF demands that this appalling abuse of police powers get a response from legislators beyond the predictable tsk-tsk -- that our elected representatives enhance this Session's watered-down version of police reform with provisions for community oversight in policing to ensure that police are held accountable for such heinous actions.